All Things PLUR: History & Lifestyle

Peace, love, unity and respect. A manifesto built by hippies and ravers alike that has established a notion that holds all equal, regardless what corners of the earth you’re partying on. It is ironic that a movement that is the epitome of harmony among humans, began from violence. Frankie Bones, pictured below and often referred to as the founder of PLUR, was DJing a warehouse party when a fight broke out between a couple. Frankie Bones told the crowd that they “had better start showing some peace, love, and unity” and the movement began. In 1990, Frankie Bones released a record titled “The Peace, Love, & Unity Movement” (PLUM). Shortly after, the acronym transformed into what we know it as today, PLUR.

The values of peace, love, unity, and respect continue to be held close in heart of festival goers today, exactly like they have been for decades. The cultural movement behind PLUR is one that musicians, DJs as well as the tens of millions of people who live and breath it everyday share with one another. As anyone who has stepped foot in an EDM event can tell you, it is a place of overwhelming acceptance, kindness and beauty as people from all origins meet to share a mutual love that brings us all together. The Ravers Manifesto is an accurate representation of what many festival goers feel. Originally written in 2001 by Maria Pike, The Ravers Manifesto is still a central part to EDM culture.

The Ravers Manifesto:

Our emotional state of choice is Ecstasy.
Our nourishment of choice is Love.
Our addiction of choice is technology.
Our religion of choice is music.
Our currency of choice is knowledge.
Our politics of choice is none.
Our society of choice is utopian though we know it will never be.

You may hate us. You may dismiss us. You may misunderstand us. You maybe unaware of our existence. We can only hope you do not care to judge us, because we would never judge you. We are not criminals. We are not disillusioned. We are not drug addicts. We are not naive children… We are one massive, global, tribal village that transcends man-made law, physical geography, and time itself.

We are The Massive One Massive.

We were first drawn by the sound. From far away, the thunderous, muffled, echoing beat was comparable to a mother’s heart soothing a child in her womb of concrete, steel, and electrical wiring. We were drawn back into this womb, and there, in the heat, dampness, and darkness of it, We came to accept that we are all equal. Not only to the darkness, and to ourselves, but to the very music slamming into us and passing through our souls: we are all equal, and somewhere around 35 Hz we could feel the hand of God at our backs, pushing us forward, pushing us to push ourselves to strengthen our minds, Pushing us to turn to the person beside us to join hands and uplift them by sharing the uncontrollable joy we felt from creating this magical bubble that can, for one evening, protect us from the horrors, atrocities, and pollution of the outside world. It is in that very instant, with these initial realisations that each of us was truly born. We continue to pack our bodies into clubs, or warehouses, or buildings you’ve abandoned and left for naught, and we bring life to them for one night. Strong, throbbing, vibrant life in it’s purest, most intense, most hedonistic form.

In these makeshift spaces, we seek to shed ourselves of the burden of uncertainty for a future you have been unable to stabilise and secure for us. We seek to relinquish our inhibitions, and free ourselves from the shackle’s and restraints you’ve put on us for your own peace of mind. We seek to re-write the programming that you have tried to indoctrinate us with since the moment we were born. Programming that tells us to hate, that tells us to judge, that tells us to stuff ourselves into the nearest and most convenient pigeon hole possible. Programming that even tells us to climb ladders for you, jump through hoops, and run through mazes and on hamster wheels. Programming that tells us to eat from the shiny silver spoon you are trying to feed us with, instead of nourish ourselves with our own capable hands. Programming that tells us to close our minds, instead of open them.

Until the sun rises to burn our eyes by revealing the distopian reality of a world you’ve created for us, we dance fiercely with our brothers and sisters in celebration of our life, of our culture, and of the values we believe in:

Our enemy of choice is ignorance.
Our weapon of choice is information.

Our crime of choice is breaking and challenging whatever laws you feel you need to put in place to stop us from celebrating our existence. But know that while you may shut down any given party, on any given night, in any given city, in any given country on this beautiful planet, you can never shut down the entire party. You don’t have access to that switch, no matter what you may think. The music will never stop. The heartbeat will never fade. The party will never end.

The creation of kandi and the PLUR handshake are a gateway to expressing true positivity, in which rave culture originated. It is a way for two people in a endless sea of dancing souls to embrace each other, equality and love in a moment that makes the 120 decibel of bass fade into the background as your heart and soul meet.

This experience is one that results in a change in consciousness for many as it is a space in time when nothing, except for being together, united as one matters. It is as if raves and PLUR cultural have established an informal national of people, who once united can’t help but dancing, praising the DJ and partying till the sun comes up. An endless sea ofarms, faces and even the occasionally lucky bastard in a raft who is getting the ride of their life on top of the waves that are created by a band of brothers and sisters alike. Togetherness, compassion and kindness are all feeling that are craved by humans naturally; the moment you walk through the gate of an EDM event, this is your new reality. As you hear the drops first hand and witness thousands peacefully become united by music, you realized that no headphones can even do justice to the music you once though was simply EDM. It is a euphoric experience that will stay with you forever, similar to the incredible life lasting friendships that are created with each passing drop! Peace, love, unity and respect, all core values of life that have been shared as music continues to bring people together in this fashion as it has been doing for nearly half a century. The handshakes, kandi, and PLUR culture are just a new way for us post modern hippies to blend our differences and unite as one.